Above: More than 3,000 students from Denver schools (including first-, second- and third-graders from Barrett Elementary school doing the Maypole dance) performed excerpts from the works of William Shakespeare, plus music and dance of the Renaissance, during the 2002 Shakespeare Festival.

Left: Ellis Elementary School fourth-grader Amy Flanagan waits for the 1998 parade to begin at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

Friday marks the 25th anniversary of the Denver Public Schools Shakespeare Festival. Each May, kids from kindergarten to high school dress up in Elizabethan costumes and perform brief Shakespearean scenes on 12 stages that spread from the Denver Performing Arts Complex to Skyline Park.

Make that 4,000 kids — and an occasional teacher.

“I did perform one year because our Puck got suspended the day before the festival, and I stepped in and saved the day,” joked Cat Tobiasson, who for seven years at Ford Elementary was among the thousands of teachers who prepare students for their street-corner soliloquies. She can’t recall just what that kid did wrong, but she’s sure it was for Puckish behavior.

For some kids, the DPS fest is a fun and playful introduction to the world’s most important — and daunting — playwright. For others, it marks the beginning of a career in the performing arts.

“Kids get so much out of it. Confidence levels really go up, socially and academically,” said Tobiasson, now of Cheltenham Elementary. “They learn to work together and, if they have a good teacher, they learn wonderful listening and speaking skills. I think they also connect to the stories and, therefore, begin to realize that they are storytellers when they perform.”

Shadow Theatre’s ShaShauna Staton, who appeared in last season’s “Dinah Was,” admits that, as a sixth-grader, she may not have understood every word that came out her mouth. Make that Bottom’s mouth, from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

But she remembers the commitment of her teachers, and the excitement of “living the experience,” which helped foster her lifelong love of performing.

“My teachers made sure that you used the language correctly, and in the proper context,” said Staton, 28. “Every word was important, even if that word was ‘is.’ And they tried — best they could, to make you understand why.”

Deb Flomberg, a founding member of the new Equinox Theatre, looked forward to the fest every year, as much to play dress-up and get out of school as for performing itself. For her eighth-grade role as Flute in “Midsummer,” her Hamilton Middle School teacher rented her a gold and maroon costume with intricate velvet-rope detail.

“I was so in love with my costume that I had hung it on my bedroom door so that I could look at it every day leading up to the big day,” she said. But just as the festival was set to start, the kids were told to get back on the bus. The festival was canceled because of the outbreak of the 1992 riots in Los Angeles.

She, too, admits to not always understanding what was coming out of her mouth. But Shakespeare is a process. And, Tobiasson says, the younger the better.

“Here’s the thing: If you give kid-friendly explanations about Shakespeare’s stories and language, they get it. . . . I would always tell the story first. Then, when we got into the lines, they loved learning what certain words or phrases meant.”

“I don’t think kids are freaked out by the language, if they have the proper support. Also, many of our students’ first language was Spanish.”

Annie Cohen never wanted an acting career, but she loved her four years in the festival as a Hill middle-schooler. She says it helped her develop skills that benefit her today as an assistant video editor for Starz Entertainment Group.

“It was really nice to go downtown once a year and perform for the grown-ups who just happened to be walking by,” said Cohen, who graduated from Manual High in 1997. “It gave me a feeling of really being a part of this city, as well as teaching me performance skills like projecting your voice, commanding a stage, being able to stand up there and make a fool of yourself for the benefit of the scene.”

Friday’s festival begins with a parade at 10 a.m. from Arapahoe and 16th streets to the Denver Performing Arts Complex. Performances run from 10:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.

Denver Public Schools Shakespeare Festival schedule:

The fest begins with a procession parade at 10 a.m. from Skyline Park on Arapahoe and 16th streets to the Denver Performing Arts Complex at 14th and Curtis streets. Performances on 11 stages run from 10:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.